Building Character
by Tuonetar Star
Summary: A series of one-shots concerning the inner thoughts and feelings of the lesser characters of the SSX series.
1. Skye

_A series of one-shots concerning the lesser known SSX cast. Each chapter probably isn't going to be too long, I plan on about eight chapters, as explained; I won't be featuring everyone._

_SSX is owned by EA Sports. I am in no way afflicted with EA in any way all characters are owned by them but the ideas and writing is my own. Nor do I own any song featured._

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><p>The time will turn<br>And you will learn

There ain't no way but the hard way  
>Get used to it<br>I said there ain't no way but the hard way  
>So get used to it<p>

Airbourne - No way but the hard way

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 1: SKYE<strong>

First one way and then another. Skye twisted and turned this way and that, the flashes of several cameras blinding her.

"Skye this way!" Hand on your left hip! Look up for me now!" Skye did as she was instructed; feeling much like a worn out marionette as she moved into a new position. She was completely worn out, her usual hyper; outgoing attitude had just been drained out of her, she was a sponsors dream; but it came with downs as well as ups. Whilst she received tons of free merchandise, good pay cheques and coverage on TV adverts; magazines and billboards, it was on a demanding basis.

She had been going non-stop for three weeks. In between skiing in fierce competition, travelling to photo shoots and meeting fans; she hadn't had any free time for herself to chill and recuperate. Too many late nights and early rises had taken its toll on her body.

"Ok take five everyone!" The director of a well known surf/snowboard company cried out enthusiastically. "Someone get me a change of film!"

Skye was handed a towel and a bottle of water, before being ushered away to change for the umpteenth time.

She was barely listening as her stylist chatted and started redoing her hair. Usually it was messily drawn back for practicality. Today there were more pins in it than she could count, her stylist carefully began to move and rearrange them, much to Skye's irritation.

"Emily." Skye stated, "Can't you leave it? I need these five minutes."

"Oh but just one moment-" She was ignored as Emily continued to do what she did best, make Skye look beautiful.

"Leave it!" Skye snapped, "I need a break!"

Emily stepped back surprised as Skye stormed out of the changing area, past several stunned people who had heard her outburst and slammed the door behind her as she stepped out into the comfortable reception area of the studio. She gave a frustrated yell and flung herself down, taking a moment to reflect as she rubbed her temples and tiredly closed her eyes.

She was very mush used to working hard and pushing herself to find the limit, but currently it was all just unbearable. Having an outburst was extremely unlike her, but she was past caring.

All the girls on the circuit had to work, but some more than others.

Kaori, was lucky, she had the best of both worlds, since she was Japanese, a lot of Japanese clothing lines and sponsors held her rights, as such Kaori only had to do her extra work in Japan and in the summer, leaving her plenty of time to practice and chill out and compete during the SSX season.

Allegra, had somehow gotten away with doing the bare minimum. She worked for SSX and SSX only, she was so above herself she refused to do any trend setting for any company; as far as she was concerned, she was helping them out, not the other way around. If they wanted to Sponsor her so be it, she would wear the gear they provided her on the podium and in competition, there was no way she would be eating into her valuable training schedule to pacify their modelling requests.

Zoe on the other hand; worked for herself. She had come up with her own clothing style and as such had created her own clothing company, she wore her own designs and no one else's; drumming up business for her own online store and reaping the benefits of not having to employ anyone to do the modelling work for her. Boy did it work well; having her own unique style had been the clincher, if anyone wanted to look like Zoe and wore what Zoe wore, well they'd have to buy it from her. Essentially it was perfect business plan.

Then there was Elise, who basically came and went as and when she pleased, modelled for who she wanted, when she wanted on her own terms. Fundamentally, because as Queen Bee; everyone wanted her, and they would fight over her constantly, Elise was constantly going back and forth between top companies to get her own way. Skye for one had never seen her buy any clothes or make-up brand new, she was always having boxes of things delivered and casting them aside in favour of something else she'd been sent from elsewhere. Skye didn't really mind this too much; as Elise's room-mate, she benefited highly from this. It was like having a very rich big sister who liked giving her hand me-downs.

But it was herself that bore the brunt of the work. Since Allegra was far too lazy to be a good cover girl, and some companies hated dealing with Elise, they all picked her out, but she was tied into so many contracts now it was proving to be far too much.

"You look tired kiddo."

A familiar sounding voice, snapped Skye out of her thoughts and she looked up to see a bored looking Elise Riggs, stood with a hand on her hip, a bag strung over her shoulder and a very bored expression on her face.

"I am tired." Skye sighed. "I'm shattered, I feel drained to the maximum."

Elise shifted her bag and went to sit down beside the younger girl. "Well I've got a few minutes to spare so make it quick."

For Elise, this was her way of saying 'I'm slightly concerned, and I'm listening.' So Skye did, she told the older more experienced woman of her troubles and her struggle with balancing too many responsibilities on her shoulders.

To be fair to the Ice Queen, she listened in silence nodding here and then when she felt the need. Once Skye had finished Elise patted her on the shoulder in sympathy and shrugged, Skye waited for the answer with baited breath. "You're just too nice, Kiddo."

Skye stared, if there was an answer she had been expecting; it certainly wasn't that she was too nice. The look of shock and confusion must have showed on her face because Elise nodded earnestly, "Well think about it." She explained, "You never say no."

Skye thought about it, and it dawned on her that it was true. "So what do you suggest?" She asked.

"Well, just be more... assertive." Elise answered. "You're aggressive and passionate enough when racing, just explain that unless you're given more free time on your schedule, you simply won't be in form enough to compete and win. They really can't argue with that."

"Oh I see." Skye said, musing over her suggestion. Elise was far more experienced than her, but she didn't want to be known as a total bitch. "But everyone knows I'm the hyper, outgoing girl from down under!"

"You still will be." Elise sighed, "But you're also going to be known as the drained worn-out pushover if you continue the way you're going. No amount of make-up in the world could cover up those dark circles kiddo."

Kiddo had been Elise's nickname for her; Skye had grown to like it. She had to admit at first she was somewhat apprehensive about sharing with Elise but there was no other way for it and she was the only person on the tour who had anything at all in common with Elise, which was simply their shared hatred for Allegra. It was funny how the world worked.

Admittedly, Skye hadn't noticed how drained she looked, she supposed she hadn't had the time to check what she looked like in the mirror, she'd been far too busy for that; and there was simply not enough time for her to be able to do something pleasurable like a bath rather than a shower. "Do I really look that bad?" She asked.

Elise gave her a sympathetic pat on the knee. "Nothing a good week in a spa can't solve." She answered, "Take a week off, there's no competition next week, check yourself into the Royal Cosmopolitan and pamper yourself. Demand it!" She winked and stood up. "It's not easy, I know that. It was rough for me at first, but I'm no quitter."

"Me either." Skye answered standing up. "I'd best get back in and apologise."

"Good luck Kiddo." Elise shrugged her bag back onto her shoulder and then headed off in the direction of a separate Set; obviously she too was here for some type of shoot... though Skye wasn't sure what as she made her way back down the corridor to the changing rooms.

"Skye there you are!" Emily cried as she walked in. "We were worried!"

"I'm sorry." Skye answered, trying to ignore all the interested eyes on her as Emily pulled her towards her and started on her hair again. "I'm too drained, I need a week off."

"Ohh..." The girl trailed off and turned around to the director who shrugged.

"It's no problem, we can reschedule it's no good shooting if you're tired, we'll finish this session then leave it at that for now."

Skye blinked in surprise and then nodded; changing into new clothes quickly and making her way back to her shoot. As the flashes started all over again, she smiled, a new found energy in her, a week's break in a luxury spa would be heavenly. She may have to take Elise up on that offer.


	2. Sid

_So next chapter is Sid, I know this chapter may upset certain fans of a popular pairing but I'm going by what I have with bios and information from EA sports. Besides this is just my take on Sid and this wasn't the easiest of characters to write._

_I do not own any SSX characters or the game itself in any way all thoughts and opinions in this story are my own and not affiliated with EA Sports. Nor do I own Muse, alas._

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><p>I want to reconcile the violence in your heart<p>

I want to recognize your beauty is not just a mask  
>I want to exorcise the demons from your past<br>I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

Muse - Undisclosed Desires

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 2: SID<strong>

He had met Kaori during the summer before On Tour had begun; she had been partying with mutual friends at the hottest club in Tokyo. Takako had introduced him to her, and then she'd ditched them, leaving them to it whilst she hooked up with Shinji. Mad times. But it had been for the best, Kaori was cute; Sid hadn't met anyone like her before, and even over the pumping music, her laugh was heavenly.

They'd exchanged numbers and they'd met again two days later, they'd gone skiing; well he skied, she boarded, with the passion and flair of a swan on ice. She looked beautiful, full of grace and vivacity and since then he had been hooked on the presence that was Kaori Nishidake.

He was lucky, she was mesmerised by him, adored his passion for the arts and had been happily in awe of his overall demeanour. When the news came that the SSX season was offering places to skiers she'd demanded that he try out; and when he did it came as no surprise to him that he'd been picked. Kaori was thrilled, she was happy to have someone of her own language to converse in; she'd started to gabber away happily about her friends and what everyone was like on the tour.

Sid was happy to learn, he was there to win and anything that would give him an edge was beneficial. He needed to know the other riders strengths and weaknesses without making it seem like he was using her just to win. She knew him better than that though, and was happy to help out her new friend.

She didn't seem to like it when he looked down on others though, she took it somewhat personally when he'd mocked normal jobs with a basic rate of pay, he hadn't known her mother was a nurse; he'd apologised and she'd accepted it and in a moment it was gone and forgotten. He tried to hide that part of his personality from her ever since.

It was three weeks away from the start of the competition when she had started to upset him. Every other subject of her concern for her return had been _Mac_. Sid was no idiot, he knew who Mac was, he was Kaori's riding partner, and with all the time they had spent together he had forgotten that once they arrived back to the circuit she would have her other friends around.

He longed for more days alone with her, or to be able to wrap her up so she could only be with him, but obviously this was not at all possible. So instead he hated his fellow competitors, especially Mac. Kaori had been a little disappointed to find that no one was getting along with him, but it had worked. She had resolved to spend more time with him to help him coerce himself into the group.

It meant more time with her and he loved it.

They were mostly undisturbed, even Mac gave up riding with them, no one wanted to be the third wheel with two people speaking non-stop Japanese, he wasn't about to speak English for the sake of it.

But after a while, it became dry and he could sense she wasn't enjoying it so much. She'd explained that she was lonely and that she missed her friends. He told her that he understood and had let her go to do what she needed to do. She had looked so happy; he couldn't be angry, and then she'd kissed him.

It was nothing passionate, just once on the cheek before running off to find Elise and Skye. But it lingered, and he couldn't stop thinking about it, he was hooked; she was like some sort of drug and he needed her.

She thought of holding her in his arms and passionate moments. She was the funkiest girl he had ever met. She really _knew_ him and _understood_ him, now he was losing her again.

He became wild, disturbingly so on the course, it was a new power and it drove him higher and higher, with bigger thrills and bigger wins, and with each win she took more notice in him, and they trained harder together. It was going great until towards the end of the season, when SSX ditched him.

He wasn't what they were looking for in their next tour, and he had made it far too difficult to try and get along with him, too many complaints from other competitors... at least that was the Board of Directors excuse for getting rid of him, he knew it was really because there had been complaints about the skiers, and if you couldn't board there was simply no room for you anymore.

He wasn't the only one, but it didn't make him feel any better.

The ache in his heart was the worst. He had the summer, but then an entire winter without his beloved Kaori? It was unfathomable.

Kaori had noticed his depression, and thought it was because he was going to miss out on more skiing. He was finding it hard to tell her anything about how he felt, it was hard. He didn't feel that she thought they were anything more than friends and in a way he didn't want to mess up what they did have.

His anxiety off the track, showed on the track; his stunts were becoming more brave; or idiotic depending on which way you looked at it; and people were starting to compare him to Psymon. He supposed this wasn't a good thing, but he didn't care. It was a simple way to let go of his emotions and the fans seemed to love it, the girls adored it, the guys were jealous of it.

But Kaori was worried about it.

"Sid." She laid her soft hand on his shoulder and looked up at him; her chocolate eyes were filled with concern. He could lose himself in those eyes. She was far shorter than he was, and her neck had to crane to keep his eye line. "I know you are upset, but you go too far; I do not want you to get hurt."

Although supposed to be reassuring, the words stung, he didn't like to know he hurt her or cause her worry. "I'll be fine." He answered. "It's nothing I haven't done before."

"But you take too many risks, big risks..." She trailed off not really knowing how to say it.

"I'd never intentionally hurt you Kaori," He replied forcing himself to smile reassuringly and play it cool.

"But if you get hurt now..." She stopped and fumbled with her words. "We may not get to spend a great summer together... if you are hurt I mean."

Sid was a little surprised; she was thinking ahead... to the summer, with him? "You want to spend more time with me in the summer?" He asked. "But I'm not on the circuit next season-"

"You weren't on the circuit when I met you!" She argued. "I do not care of these things!" Her outburst had obviously shocked herself, because she stopped abruptly and blushed, a rosy hue spreading over her fair cheeks.

"Kaori what do you mean?" He asked.

"I like you." She said, the blush deepening. "You are my very good friend... you don't treat other people too nicely; but you treat me like a princess... I want to spend more time with you... it is fun and-"

Sid leaned down and kissed her, quick and hard on her lips. Then he pulled back and was very glad his sunglasses meant she couldn't see his eyes. "I like you too." He stated, and playing the cool guy, walked off to his race start.

Maybe the summer was starting to look incredibly good again as she heard him yell happily behind him. "Good luck!''


	3. Marisol

_I had loads of fun writing this chapter, I'm not the biggest Marisol fan but I did like her attitude and felt she was always over shadowed a little too much by Elise who does come across as a bit of a bitch._

_I do not own SSX or it's characters, all opinions in this are my own and not affiliated with EA Sports._

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 3: MARISOL<strong>

Her head was pounding, her mouth tasted like a rat had crawled into it and died and her stomach was more unstable than the high seas. Marisol felt like shit, for the third morning in a row no less. She was going to give this a 3 star rating hangover. Seeiah was already up and about and the smell of her perfume was making Marisol want to vomit; as reminders of the random gin shots she was doing in the hotel with her friends after the bouncer had kicked them out of the club at 1:45am; passed through her mind.

She rolled over painfully and made a grab for her designer watch to check the time. It was almost noon.

Marisol made the effort of getting up and hauled her voluptuous frame out of bed heading for the bathroom, as she passed through the small apartment she shared with Seeiah, the black woman gave her a cheerful smile; knowing all too full well the states Marisol liked to get herself into. "Morning girl!" She cried.

Marisol shook her head and waved, not daring to speak through fear she might puke. A triumphant feeling came over her for a brief moment as she managed to get herself into the shower, followed by relief as she managed to start washing herself, followed extremely quickly by horror as she had to throw her wet body downwards and retch.

Thank god the water was flowing quickly, since it was mostly all liquid coming up.

A few horrid moments of unstableness followed before Marisol resumed her cleaning duty, wishing very hard that her shampoo didn't smell so much like fruit she cleansed her hair quickly before turning off the water and drying herself.

It was a shame, as she sat feeling sorry for herself over the mug of coffee Seeiah had thrust into her hands, that despite the clean clothes; brushing of one's teeth; nice shiny dry hair; and subtle Yves Saint Lauren perfume she was still producing the smell of vodka from every pore and orifice of her body.

Even Seeiah was wary and keeping a slight distance.

"Honey." The bald woman removing her bright sunglasses from atop her shiny head. "You look like you've applied your make-up at the fair... on a rollercoaster." She shook her head, "I think we need to get you to the doctor."

"I want to go back to bed, with a dozen doughnuts, a litre of coke, some red bulls and watch daytime TV." Marisol argued. "Then I'll be fine."

"You hate Red Bull." Seeiah answered. "Doctor now, down that coffee."

Marisol's mental capacity was not agreeing with her and eventually Seeiah gave up with the coffee, and pulled the Latino girl to her feet. Seeiah was quite glad the only person they met in the halls on the way to the doctor's office was Brodi, who never judged. Because Seeiah doubted Marisol would be able to argue back if anyone saw her who was quite happy to ridicule her. Elise and Psymon mainly.

The doctor was not surprised when they walked through, since Marisol was one of his most regular patients. He'd never ever known a young girl to constantly bring her body to the edge. It wasn't that she was an alcoholic; she just liked having _fun_ too much and that meant, when required, her body had to be hit hard. It was _not_ healthy.

"Miss Diez-Delgaldo." He stated as she walked in and sat down. "What can I do for you today?"

"Paracetamol ." Marisol answered groaning.

The doctor sighed as Seeiah gave him a desperate look, he shook his head and removed his glasses, "I'm going to take some tests." He said, "Some blood tests and so on."

"Why?" Suddenly the young blonde was a lot more alert, "I've never had that before."

"Well you haven't drunk heavily three nights in a row before." The SSX Doctor answered going into his filing cabinet to draw out her personal information. He reached over for a beaker and handed it to her, "I think you know what to do with this, toilet is just around the corner." He nodded to his left.

Disgusted Marisol accepted the plastic cup and walked off to go about her business, returning just as he was setting up the needles for her blood tests.

The young girl sat in silence as he did what was necessary and once complete ordered her to leave for a few hours whilst he got the results. Marisol shirked back to her room for more water.

Four hours, a gallon of water, three cans of diet coke, four coffees later, and yet she was still as parched as the Sahara desert; Marisol and Seeiah returned to the doctor's office and were told to sit down.

It wasn't good news.

"You are pushing your body far too much." He said, studying the results on his test sheet. No 18 year old girl should be bringing her body to the point of exhaustion and breaking point!" He was in a foul mood, knowing full well the girl needed a quick sharp shock to wake her up. "If this is the lifestyle you want then you can kiss goodbye to your sporting career!"

"What!" Marisol was fully awake now and in anger and shock.

"Well what did you expect!" He snapped. "Heavy drinking, late nights partying, all the dancing! You may not like to hear it but Elise and Zoe hit the gym! Kaori does yoga and ice skating! They all achieve something to help them work out. Dancing while drunk is _not_ a work out!"

The Latino girl sat silently ashamed; as tears started to form at the corners of her eyes. The doctor sighed and continued much to her annoyance; she really didn't think she could take much more but his next words stuck.

"Whatever it is... whatever issue you have, or whatever anger is bottled up. You need to find a better way to release it rather than damaging your own chances at winning medals."

Marisol was too busy with her own thoughts as Seeiah thanked the doctor and ushered the younger girl out.

Her issue? Her anger? Did she have any? Well yes, she did... but she viewed it as a weakness and had been trying desperately to avoid thinking of what she was so angry about. Marisol liked to act mature and older than she was, she didn't want; what she viewed; as a silly school girl crush to bring her down.

Her anger was directed at a certain Frenchman. But she couldn't admit that to anyone, it was hard enough admitting it to herself. She clenched her fists and thought it through. Had she really been acting out because of her relationship with J.P? Thinking about it, it was a possibility. He had shown her so much and introduced her to so much... just to bring her down to earth with a crash and tell her she wasn't mature enough for him.

Well who was he kidding? He had some nerve, she had shared things with him, so many personal dreams and aspirations and it was as if he had spat in her face. They had many wonderful moments, fun, sweet and intimate moments and he had made her feel very special.

But in the end it was as if he was only with her for her wonderful body and model looks. He had wine and dined her, spent money on her; for sure the watch she was wearing was a gift from him... she hadn't been able to part with it when he broke up with her, it was expensive and beautiful and besides he had told her to keep it.

She didn't want him spending the money on her at the time; she had explained that it made her feel like a gold digging charity case and that it was unnecessary, but he had laughed it off explaining that he bought her things because he wanted too, not because he felt compelled too.

She had to admit, that she had been warned of his playboy attitude and his inability to commit to anything more than money and racing cars. But she had felt at the time that she was getting through to him and that their relationship had meant much much more than that.

But apparently not. He broke up with her during the Spa Gran Prix in Belgium. She had been looking forward to it; she had taken interest in his other favourite sport, so that when they weren't at his private chateaux in the Alps snowboarding, they were watching Formula 1 from his apartment in Paris or jetting off on his private yacht to windsurf and kite surf off the Mediterranean.

But it wasn't the great times she missed; or the exciting holidays and the constant snowboarding or the freedom she missed. What she missed most; was him.

She couldn't look at him when they were near each other, averting her gaze and taking interest in anything other than him; she hated knowing he had bought other girls back to his room and couldn't understand why he was hanging about with Luther. It simply wasn't the J.P she knew and had thought she loved.

She had always loved to dance, it was something she could lose herself in, the rhythm and the beat of the music whilst she twirled and twisted in a flurry of beautiful moves. After he had dumped her and paid for her to go back to Venezuela, she received the call from SSX that they wanted her and out of something miserable and bloomed something wonderful. She had accepted, determined to move on and show him what he was missing.

Perhaps it had started then, her new considerably more flirty demeanour and her more confident attitude. She had been subconsciously vying for his attention and hadn't gotten it once. Instead she was slowly destroying her own body in an effort to get noticed.

"Have I been fun to be with?" She asked Seeiah.

Seeiah stopped and gave her a big hug. Marisol smiled as she was dwarfed in the fake fur and suede of Seeiah's coat. "Silly girl." She stated. "You're my best friend. I love you to pieces! You've been stellar!"

Marisol gave her a warm happy smile. "I'm sorry for making you worry... I think I can address my issues a bit better now... I think I understand why I've been so upset."

"Well good!" Seeiah was grinning from ear to ear as she placed her hands on her hips. That was the great thing about Seeiah, she would always listen and care but never intrude or ask believing that if you wanted her to know what you were thinking you would tell her. "So how you going to address your issues then?"

Marisol grinned determined and bought her fist up to her face triumphantly. "By beating Elise!" She stated simply.


	4. Felix

_Thanks to Violetta, Mandy and Collision for reviewing. I hope to have this finished within the next couple of weeks, as I said there won't be too many chapters and unfortunately I will only be concentrating on the characters I have inspiration for, But they're all written down and it will come to eight chapters in total I believe, with equal guys and gals._

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 4: FELIX<strong>

His father was on the phone for him, yet _again. _Felix instructed Maya to tell him he would call him back. He did not feel like talking to his old man at the moment. Usually they got on like a duck in water but lately... he was simply irritated by him.

Felix knew full well it was due to the fact that he had become a professional snowboarder. He didn't think his father actually realised exactly how badly Felix wanted his dream to come true.

His father was a true businessman, rude, serious and straight to the point. So it really came as no surprise to Felix when his father denounced him for not wanting to take over the family business; as the eldest child he held all hopes with him, certainly his younger sister had no aspirations to take over a burger business. She was happy to spend the money it raked in, but working in an office or behind a greasy oven? She was dead set against that.

So as usual it had been left to Felix. He really didn't mind the work, he knew the value of a dollar and spending all day in a Burger van wasn't a problem for him at all. He was just bored of it, and when the opportunity arose he had to take it. So he had applied for tryouts for the SSX circuit, he was already pretty well known around Quebec, and he did suppose that perhaps his father's business had helped with that, but if he had the means to take advantage of that to achieve his dreams then he was going too; and it had worked.

But his parents just weren't happy about it. His mother had suffered in silence, her disappointment overwhelmed by the fact that she cared a lot more for her teenage son's happiness than the family business, but as usual his father had been very vocal and wasted no time at all in calling him to see if he had changed his mind at all and wanted to come home.

Of course he didn't want to go home and now is father was set about trying to change his mind, and he just couldn't be bothered to deal with it. Skye had been extremely supportive, as his riding partner she had told him to stop worrying and prove him wrong, which was exactly what Felix had done; claiming gold medals in the first two events of the season. Elise hadn't been happy about it at all, and in retaliation had publically declared her rage and hatred for him.

She along with Psymon; were the two competitors Felix really didn't want to annoy, they were both incredibly outgoing when it came to showing their enemies who was in charge, so it was somewhat disappointing his card had been marked by her.

Either way he wondered whether his parents had actually even bothered to tune in to watch him on television. All the events were televised and it was somewhat disconcerting to think that they were completely ignoring his progress.

His sister had been kind, she seemed to be the only one who understood how he felt and had made sure that he received text messages of good luck before every race and either congratulations or commiserations at the end of the events. She also liked to email him frequently and let him know how things were at home, but she didn't mention his father much. He knew his father would get over it eventually, Felix wasn't stupid, he didn't intend to board forever; but he was young; he wanted to have fun for a while first; then he would plan his future.

He enjoyed boarding, he had met some really great people; friends he would probably keep for a long while... the fact was; he lived for the moment and couldn't be burdened by having so much strain implemented on him by someone else. He needed his freedom... even if only for a little while. At least he could move forward saying he had spent some time doing what he loved, that was what was most important to him.

Maya appeared at the door again looking slightly rustled with the phone. Felix sighed, "Again?" He asked. The female nodded and with a sigh; Felix accepted the phone. "Hello?"

"Son." Felix gave another audible sigh and this time his father heard. "Now, now-"

"I've told you." Felix stated, "I will come back when I'm ready... I'm tired of the phone calls Dad... you can't change my mind."

There was a long pause and Felix was unsure whether he'd hung up or not until his father spoke again. "I've been speaking to your sister." He said eventually.

"Oh?" This was news to Felix, he didn't realise his sister had been desperately trying to change his mind... he doubted it had worked anyway. "Yes, what did she have to say?"

"Well she suggested, that it would be a good idea to take some time out to come and spend with you... see how your competition is going... she suggested we could also partake in some skiing whilst we are there. Your mother for one could use a holiday."

"Right." Felix wasn't really sure how to take the news, for one he didn't really want them coming simply to try and have him change his mind; and although he was desperate to see them; he didn't want them ruining his training or distracting him. But maybe the truth was that he just didn't want to confront his father.

"Is that all you have to say?"

"No it's just a shock." Felix answered, "I didn't- Well I wasn't certain you cared about what I was doing."

There was another uncomfortable pause before his father answered. "Of course _I care_. You already have a few Golds; you are obviously very talented; and whilst that talent shouldn't go to waste, I am just worried you will partake in this instead of the business but... We still support you every step of the way, even if we don't show it all the time."

Felix rolled his eyes at the use of the word 'we' instead of 'I', Ignoring this however he continued. "Well I appreciate it, I would be pleased to see you all."

"Excellent." His father stated, "We arrive in a week."

Felix blinked, a week; that was short notice, he said his goodbyes and hung up; going to put the phone back in its rightful place. Skye was sat reading a magazine, and inadvertently had obviously been listening sneakily. "Well!" She asked

He smiled, "They're coming for a visit." He answered, "Next week... you may have to um, help a little."

"Sure I'll hang out with you." Skye answered, "Sounds like fun, can't wait to meet them." She turned back to her magazine; flipping through the pages interestedly as he sat next to her and interrupted her reading.

"You think it's a good idea?" He asked.

"Well I should think so." She folded the corner of her page and closed it, throwing it aimlessly down onto the floor besides her armchair. "You need to talk, show him your love for it in person... I think they'll understand eventually; it's not like a lifelong commitment right? You can stop and start whenever you want too."

"I guess so." He scratched the nape of his neck and gave a sigh. "It'll be an interesting week."

"Ah time will fly by with your family." Skye answered with a look of slight sadness; Felix knew she missed her own family since she was a total family girl... still that was what you got with four brothers.

"You've explained yourself countless times, you'll have fun on the tour and come back when you're finished." She stated, "He _will_ get it... eventually." She trailed off.

"Then I can go back to flipping Burgers." He laughed.

"Yes." She gave a slight giggle. "Then back to flipping Burgers."

* * *

><p><em>It's a bit shorter this chapter, but I definitely had the most difficulty with Felix, possibly down to the fact that we simply know hardly anything about him and Maya... let me know what you think.<em>


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